My thoughts on the Phillies season.

Phillies watch their five-game winning streak end as they fall to the Nationals, 4-1.

Well, everything must end, and sadly, in this case, it was the Phillies’ five-game winning streak as they lose to the Nationals, 4-1.

The Phillies took an early, as, with one out, Shane Victorino hits a solo home run, his third home run of the year, making it 1-0 Phillies. The Nationals would tie it up at one-all in the third, as, with the bases loaded, via a double, to Anderson Hernandez, a walk to Nationals’ starter Scott Olsen, who was then forced out at second on a Cristian Guzman ground ball to first, 3-6, which sent Hernandez to third, while Guzman would beat out Jimmy Rollins’ throw back to first base, a Chris Coste pass ball, which sent Guzman up to second base, and a walk to Nick Johnson, with two men out, as Ryan Zimmerman walked, forcing in Hernandez with the tying run and moving Guzman and Johnson up to third and second base, respectively. The Nationals took the lead in the fifth, as, with a runner on second base, and one man out, Elijah Dukes hits an RBI single, scoring Zimmerman, who had earlier doubled, making it 2-1 Nationals. The Nationals increased their lead three batters later, as, now with two men on base, and two men outs, Hernandez hits an RBI single, knocking in Dukes, who had moved up to second base on Josh Willingham’s single, making it 3-1 Nats, while sending Willingham over to third. The Nationals added an insurance run in the eighth, as, with two men on, and two outs, Hernandez hits an RBI double, scoring pinch runner Willie Harris, who had taken over first base after Adam Dunn had earlier singled and had stolen second base, making it 4-1 Nationals, while sending Jesus Flores, who had earlier been intentionally walked, over to third. That ended up being the final score, as the Phillies would be unable to mount a comeback in the bottom half of the eighth.

Brett Myers took the lost, as he pitched six innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and three walks, as he struck out three. His record is now 1-2 with a 4.83 ERA. Although he gave up no home runs in this game, his pitch count is getting too high as he is getting into too many 3-2 counts. Jack Taschner pitched two innings in relief, giving up a run on two hits and two walks, while striking out two. J.A. Happ pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit, as he struck out a batter. Scott Olsen got the win as he pitched five and two-thirds innings, giving up a run on six hits and two walks, while striking out six. His record is now 1-3 with a 6.08 ERA. Garrett Mock pitched a scoreless inning and a third as he held back the Phillies, giving up no hits and a walk, while striking out one. Kip Wells also pitched a scoreless inning as he held, giving up only two walks. Julian Tavarez recorded his first save of the year as he pitched a scoreless ninth, giving up just one hit, as he struck out a batter.

The Phillies were only able to record seven hits in the game. Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard both led the way with two hits each, all singles, as Rollins raised his batting average to .207, seeming to be ready to hit over .400 for the month of May as he’d predicted a few days ago. Shane Victorino, Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez had the other three hits, with Victorino’s hit, a home run, knocking in the Phils only run of the game. The lost gives the Phils an 11-9 record for the month of April, their second straight winning April. It would seems that the starters are starting to get their act together, which would be great news for the Phillies’ offense, as it would give them less reasons to be trying to come from behind to win games.

The Phillies (11-9, 2nd) have the day off today. Their next game will be played tomorrow night at Citizens Bank Park against the New York Mets. The game will start at 7:05 pm Eastern.

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